Shielding for EMC

Good topological planning during the design phase is absolutely essential to ensure
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) in electronic equipment and installations. Topology may
be likened to a geometric hierarchy of EM zones, ranging from an utterly unprotected
environment to a completely "clean" one, such as a computer room or a rack in which all
sensitive electronic circuitry has been enclosed within a tight metallic shield. Barriers installed
between zones prevent unwanted disturbances from passing into protected areas, whether they be
electromagnetic fields generated by intentional or unintentional radio transmitters, transients
induced on power lines, electrostatic discharges, or other EM threats (see Figure 1).

The Topological Approach

The EM topology approach requires the identification of the various electromagnetic zones
created by an apparatus or installation, each of which must be separated by a geometrical or
physical barrier (see Figure 2a). A geometrical barrier is essentially an open area in which
existing electromagnetic fields will decay to an acceptable level; similarly, between two
conductive elements, it may also be a distance that represents a capacitive coupling small enough
to neglect the coupling path for transient disturbances. A physical barrier, in contrast, typically
takes the form of a metallic shield that will either keep electromagnetic fields from penetrating
into electronic circuitry or, conversely, keep radiated emissions produced by electronic circuitry
from polluting the environment. Such shields can also protect against electrostatic discharges, as
well as currents in the grounding system–provided, that is, that they are connected to
ground/earth in such a way that any disturbances are shunted away from the sensitive electronics
to be protected, as in Figure 1. Because shielding and grounding go hand in hand, it is vital that
the latter be taken into account when the electromagnetic topology is configured (see Figure 2b).
A few specific guidelines may be helpful here:

1
 Figure 2b. An inner screen shoud be
Figure 2a. Electromagnetic topology
connected with a ground reference to the
can be seen as a series of zones
surrounding screen. Screens between
separated by geometrical or physical
zones that are not adjacent should not be
barriers
connected.

• If EMI filters or transient-suppression components are used as a barrier to prevent conducted

disturbances originating in one zone from propagating into another, they should always be placed
at the border of the protected zone.

• A shielded cable must be carefully grounded in order to do its job effectively.

• Whenever a metallic screen separates two zones, all other barriers should be located as close as
possible to that screen.

• A power-line filter with a shielded enclosure must be mounted in direct contact with the screen
in order to provide adequate attenuation.

Screened rooms, metallic racks, and conductive chassis all constitute barriers designed to
separate a "clean" electromagnetic zone from a more polluted one. Inner zones are often thought
of as the cleaner ones, used to protect sensitive electronic circuitry, but the opposite may also be
the case, as when a screened cover is employed to prevent emissions from a circuit with very
high internal clock frequencies. Similarly, a frequency converter mounted in a rack may require a
separate enclosure combined with filters to prevent interference that might disturb other
apparatus in the rack.

Shielding Effects

The shielded room and

the screened enclosure
both exemplify Faraday's
principle. To gain some
insight into this physical
effect without having to Figure 3a. Faraday's cage. A metallic spherical shell of good
resort to field theory, conductivity will eliminate the internal electrical field because
let's take the example of induced charges tend to generate a second electrical field that
a thin, conductive, cancels the original one.
spherical shell placed in
an electric field (see Figure 3a). According to Faraday, we can expect the field inside the sphere

2
to be almost zero. Why? Not because the shell has absorbed the field, but because the E-field has
caused electrical charges of different polarity along the screen. These charges will, in turn,
generate an electrical field that will tend to cancel the original field inside the shell. Because
electrons can move easily along any conductive surface, the thickness of the shield is not in itself
a significant factor.

When it comes to magnetic fields,

Faraday's effect has no relevance,
since there is no such thing as a
magnetic charge. Magnetic-field
attenuation can, however, be
achieved by means of a screen made
of a magnetic material combining Figure 3b. A spherical shell of magnetic material
high permeability (µ >> 1) with with good permeability will reduce the field inside
sufficient thickness to attract the because the field tends to remain in the magnetic
material's magnetic field by layer as it offers a low-reluctance path.
providing a low-reluctance path (see
Figure 3b). Alternatively, as Figure 3c shows, a thin shield made of a conductive material with
low permeability can also provide effective shielding for magnetic fields because an alternating
magnetic field will induce so-called eddy currents in the screen (assuming, that is, that the shield
has adequate conductivity). These eddy
currents will themselves create an
alternating magnetic field of the opposite
orientation inside the shell. The effect will
increase as frequency increases, resulting in
high shielding effectiveness at high
frequencies.
Figure 3c. A thin metallic shell of good
Low-frequency magnetic fields are more conductivity will reduce an alternating
difficult to shield against. However, magnetic field (ac) inside because the
whereas absorption shielding typically calls currents induced by the field tend to
for the installation of thick shields generate a field of opposite direction from
constructed of fairly expensive magnetic the original.
materials, shields based on the induced-
current principle may be reasonably effective at power-line frequencies. Consequently,
aluminum screens are commonly used to protect against 50- and 60-Hz magnetic fields
generated by transformers and other sources.

Any apertures or breaks in a shield will limit its effectiveness. Since the theory behind magnetic-
field shielding via induced currents presumes that such currents will flow as long as there are no
obstacles in their path, it is essential that any and all apertures be arranged in such a way as to
minimize their effect on the currents (see Figures 4a and 4b). Note, too, that apertures have HF
resonances, so an (induced) HF current flowing on the screen can cause the aperture to act as a
transmitting antenna.

3
 Figures 4a and 4b. Apertures may prevent induced currents
from promoting shielding effectiveness. They can also act as
transmitters for certain HF frequencies related to their
resonance frequency.

Closed screening is one kind of electromagnetic barrier.Another kind may consist of a sort of
open generalized screening representing the attenuation of the electromagnetic coupling between
two zones. For example, a vertical metallic plane positioned in the path of a horizontally
propagating electromagnetic field will provide a generalized screening effect for electronics
located in the "shadow" on the other side. Yet another example is the ground plane on a printed
circuit board or on the ground floor in a computer room. Both will reduce the coupling of an
environmental electromagnetic field into any cables and/or strips placed close to them, creating a
protective zone extending some distance above the plane or floor. This generalized screening
may yield an attenuation of up to about 30 dB per 10 dB shielding effectiveness for electronic
circuitry mounted on a printed circuit board or for a computer system with cables placed close to
the computer room floor. The reason for this is that the E-field tends to "hit" a conductive ground
plane at right angles, rendering it impossible for the field to induce an electric potential along
cables running parallel to the screen. Likewise, because an H-field located near a metallic surface
tends to have its predominant field component parallel to the surface, it will be unable to induce
currents into a cable loop placed close to the shield. Keeping cabling as close as possible to a
reference ground plane is therefore a very effective means of achieving a generalized screen.

Shielding in Practice

In order to be effective, a shield must be as tight as possible. The presence of intentional–and,

inevitably, unintentional–apertures (e.g., everything from doors, windows, ventilation holes, and
inlets for panel instrumentation to seam gaps and cable throughputs) will lower the shielding
effectiveness of a screen. Figures 5a and 5b illustrate how a magnetic and an electric field,
respectively, will pass through a hole and induce interfering currents or voltages on an
underlying cable; as the figures show, disturbances will be induced in the cable whenever an H-
field surrounds it or an E-field falls along it.

4
 Figure 5a. An H-field, which is predominantly tangential close to
a metallic screen, may penetrate through an opening and
introduce an induced current into an underlying cable.

Figure 5b. An E-field, which will hit a metallic screen at right angles,
may penetrate through an opening and enable an induced voltage to run
along an underlying cable.

Figure 6. Multiple small openings are preferable to a single large one.

Note that multiple waveguides may be very effective in stopping fields at
frequencies well below their cutoff frequency.

As Figure 6 makes clear, multiple small apertures will provide better protection than a single
large one. A window with multiple waveguides (i.e., a "honeycomb" window) can be an
effective tool for preventing EM fields where the cutoff frequency of those fields is considerably
higher than the frequency span of the electromagnetic field. In such cases, the field will not be
able to penetrate very long if the diameter is small compared to the wavelength. The remaining
shielding effectiveness at a distance d [m] behind a hole of diameter D [m] can, for frequencies
with a wavelength >>D, be approximately calculated as:

20 dB at d/D 1

40 dB at d/D 2

60 dB at d/D 5

It is best not to allow any opening larger than about /30. For effective screening of
electromagnetic fields with frequencies up to 1 GHz, apertures should be no bigger than 1 cm. A
good illustration of the importance of aperture size is seen in the difference between the
attenuation provided by a shielded room constructed of a homogenous material (e.g., with walls
of 6 mm aluminum), at about 100 dB, and that given by a simple mesh-shielded enclosure such

5
as a "chicken net," with openings measuring about 0.5 mm diam, at about 40 dB for EM fields
up to 1 GHz.

If a hole in a shielded room is to be used to allow a length of plastic tubing to pass through (as
for a water or an air inlet), a mechanical waveguide may be used as a filter for electromagnetic
waves with frequencies well below its cutoff. Such a cutoff filter may take the form of a circular
or rectangular tube (see Figure 7). Note, however, that the attenuation will decrease with
frequency and become zero at the cutoff.

Figure 7. Typical characteristics of a circular waveguide below its cutoff

frequency.

Figure 8. A cable shield should be fitted to the

enclosure wall as tightly as possible.

Establishing proper protection requires an awareness of the EM topology and efficient use of
appropriate barriers. The topology must not be compromised by holes cut into the barrier to
permit cable screens or separate grounding cables to pass through, as such holes will allow
ground currents to slip into the protected zone. All screenings should be grounded at the barrier
to prevent the introduction of unwanted disturbances. The grounding, like the shielding, should
be as tight as possible. Shielded connectors with full peripheral coverage (i.e., 360°) afford the
best protection (see Figure 8), but simpler arrangements may suffice depending on the particular
threat posed. When a shielded connector must be grounded to a chassis, for example, tight
metallic tape may provide much greater shielding effectiveness than a simple pigtail connection
(see Figures 9a and 9b). A capacitor connected between the signal line and the screen, or a feed-
through capacitor mounted in the screen itself, can be employed to shunt away HF disturbances
superimposed on the signal line. If a number of cables are to be connected to a shielded
apparatus, a feed-through plate with efficient connectors and filters should be used.

6
Figures 9a and 9b. A shielded D-sub
connector tightly grounded to the
chassis by means of metallic tape may
afford much better shielding
effectiveness than a simple pigtail
connection.

Figure 10. The absorption loss in a

screen decreases exponentially and is
reduced by 1/e at a distance d equal to
the penetration depth ∂

7
Shielding Theory

Shielding theory is based on two fundamental mechanisms, reflection loss and absorption loss.
Figures 10 and 12 illustrate the principle involved in placing a metallic barrier in the path of an
electromagnetic plane wave propagating with orthogonal E and H vectors. The E- and H-field
components are related by the wave impedance, which is defined by the ratio of the tangential
field components, so that

Z=E/H

In free space, the wave impedance is

where,
µ0 = 4 107/ 0 = 109/36

A metallic screen, however, has much lower impedance:

µ = µrµ0 is the permeability;

= r 0 is the dielectric constant;

is the conductivity [1/ m or "mhos/m"]; and

= 2 f = 2 c0/ ,

where

f is the frequency [Hz];

c0 = 3 • 108 is the speed of light [m/s];

and = c0/f = 300/fMHz is the wavelength [m]

This implies an impedance mismatch for the wave, which therefore causes reflections.
The remaining field is transmitted through the barrier after partial absorption by the
metal. The electric-field component is reflected predominantly when it has to pass into a
medium with lower impedance (at the first surface), while the magnetic component is
reflected when it must pass into a medium with higher impedance (the second surface).
Between the two surfaces there will be multiple reflections, which may be overlooked if
the absorption loss in the barrier is at least 10 dB.

8
 Figure 11. Absorption loss for an EH-wave
as a function of frequency for a steel and a
copper shield, respectively, of 0.5 and 3
mm thickness.

Figure 12. The reflection loss for

an EH wave will depend on the
ration of the free space impedance
Z0 to the impedance in the screen
Zs.

The absorption loss of a plane wave passing through a metallic shield at a distance d (see
Figure 11) may be calculated as follows:

where is the skin depth–that is, the penetration depth at which the strength of the field
will have decayed to 1/e:

This results in A1 (µr = 1; = 38•106)

= 12 mm at 50 Hz, and

9
 = 0.1 mm at 1 MHz.

The absorption loss SA increases with frequency and is typically >100 dB above 1 MHz.
The reflection loss, meanwhile, is

The reflection loss decreases with frequency and is normally about 100 dB at 1 MHz; the
total loss (if multiple reflections in the shield are neglected) is S = SaSr = SA[dB] +
SR[dB].

Figure 13. The total loss is the sum of the

absorption and the reflection losses
(multiple reflections neglected).

Figure 13 shows that the shielding effectiveness for a plane wave is typically no less than
100 dB in the MHz region. For a large metal screen of thickness t, the total loss can thus
be calculated as:

S = SaSr 0.35 • ( /2 µr ) • et/ (t > )

S = SaSr (t/∂) • ( /2 µr ) (t < )

A thin spherical shield, in contrast, will produce a loss of:

S = SaSr (t/ ) • (2r/3µr ) (t > )

(where r = equivalent radius and t = thickness)

In the case of a multiple-laminated shield, the total reflection and absorption losses may
be seen as, respectively, the sum of reflection losses at each surface and the sum of
attenuation losses in each layer.

10
Near-Field Conditions

Plane-wave conditions assume that the field is fully developed (E/H = Z0 = 377 ), which
is the case if the distance from the radiation source is great enough. This is called the far-
field region. The amplitude of the E-field and H-field, respectively, decreases in the far-
field region as 1/r– that is, the E- and H-field is reduced 20 dB (10 dB) if the distance r is
increased 10 times (3.3 times).

In the near-field region, by contrast, the ratio between E and H is complex and varies
with the distance from the source. A high-impedance source antenna (e.g., a dipole
antenna) will produce a near field dominated by E (E/H >> Z0), while a low-impedance
antenna (e.g., a current loop) will yield a near field dominated by H (E/H << Z0). At a
distance of /2 , the wave impedance will approach Z0 and the field will start to
decrease linearly with distance when r /2.

In the near field, the shielding effectiveness must be regarded separately for the electric
and the magnetic fields.

The shielding added under the primary and above the secondary is important for the safe
operation of wireless power transfer. Without shielding, following problems may occur:

1. the magnetic field may interfere with the device or other objects;
2. it may cause battery heating
3. it may circulate current in metallic parts

There are two basic methods for shielding against low- to medium- frequency magnetic
sources: diversion of the magnetic flux with high-permeability materials and the
generation of opposing flux via Faraday’s law. Assuming the external medium is free
space with μ=μ0 and the shield is constructed of a ferromagnetic material having μ=μrμ0
with μr>>1, the magnetic field will tend to concentrate in the low-reluctance
ferromagnetic path, and as such will be diverted from affecting the free space region. To
achieve this effect, the ferrite plate has to be thick enough, otherwise, the leakage flux
into free space is considerable, as shown in Fig.2(a). An alternative is the combination of
both of the two mechanisms mentioned above. Fig.2(b) shows the field distribution when
a copper sheet is attached to the ferrite plate. According to Faraday’s law, a current
circulates in the copper sheet and associated magnetic flux is generated. The induced
magnetic flux is of a polarity or direction as to counteract the original incident magnetic
field, and so the net magnetic field in the vicinity of the loop is reduced.

11
Shielding effectiveness (SE) is a parameter used for shielding evaluation, which is defined as the
ratio between the field strength, at a given distance from the source, without the shield interposed
and the field strength with the shield interposed. Fig.3 shows the shielding effectiveness when
using only ferrite, only copper and the combination of them. To meet different SE requirement in
different situations, different material or combination can be chosen.

12